


The Book of Fate: A Tale of Two Souls

by bmcbapej



Series: Bemily Week (2018) [4]
Category: Pitch Perfect (Movies)
Genre: Bemily Week, Day 4, F/F, Fantasy, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-03-14
Updated: 2019-02-25
Packaged: 2019-03-31 08:41:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,036
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13971420
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bmcbapej/pseuds/bmcbapej
Summary: Emily longs for something magical, Beca just wants something that’s real.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So I originally had a cute little one-shot planned with a carnival, fortune-tellers and a lame solemate pun involving shoes, but then I got distracted and this idea came to me while I was out. It's something that I can't flesh out in so little time so here's a sneak preview of a longer story I'll hopefully finish after bemily week is over. Not quite sure if this still counts as in theme since the soulmates aspect comes in later but I'm sure you guys can look the other way :)
> 
> Day 4: Soulmates

**Nexus Antiques & Collectibles, Seattle, Washington [2007]**

All Beca had wanted was some peace and quiet. Her parents were arguing again so she had snuck out of her bedroom window with nothing except the clothes on her back. Ducking into the nearest store when it had begun to rain, she nodded at the old bespectacled shop owner before perusing the shelves.

She hadn’t put much thought into how she was going to die but she had expected it to be sometime in the distant future. As she watched the giant rattling bookcase in front of her begin to come closer and closer, she can’t help but think that this is probably one of the lamest ways to go.

* * *

**Kindred Soul Medical Centre, Columbus, Ohio [2011]**

Emily was tired of how quiet the hospital was. It made the monotonous beeping of the machines sound louder than they really were. She was in the long-term care ward, away from the hustle-and-bustle of the E.R patients. Everything was unnaturally sterile, and she hated the way the nurses and doctors would look at everyone in pity.

She might be sick, but she wasn’t stupid. Antibiotic-resistant, incurable, _terminal_ , she knows what all those words mean. She’s long past the stage of feeling sorry for herself, now she just worries about her parents. Watching the suffering you cause those around you is probably one of the most painful ways to go.

* * *

  **?, ?, ? [?]**

Beca opened her eyes to a strange woman staring down at her. Sitting up in surprise, she clutches the nearby sheet and backs herself into the corner of the bed. Vaguely remembering being attacked by an avalanche of books, she’s sure as hell that this is neither the antique shop nor a hospital.

“Howdy, stranger! It’s good to see you’re finally awake. What’s your name?”

Now she’s not usually one to judge on looks considering her own appearance was usually described as ‘rebellious’ and ‘alternative’, but the odd-looking person in front of her was like nothing she had ever seen before. Blue gravity-defying hair and purple eyes were not exactly common where she was from. She glances away for a few moments just in case she’s seeing things and her eyes need to re-calibrate, but nothing had changed when she her gaze returned.

“Howdy, stranger! It’s good to see you’re finally awake. What’s your name?” _Didn’t she just say that?_

Beca’s not really sure what the protocol is for a situation such as this one. On one hand stranger danger, but on the other hand she needs to find out more about where the heck she is right now.

“I’m Beca and who the fuck are you?”

“Hello Beca and who the fuck are you? Am I saying it right?” _Is she seriously…_

“No, what? It’s just Beca.”

“Hello what? It’s just Beca. Am I saying it right, now?” _Is she stupid or just messing with me?_

She enunciates _very_ slowly, “My name is Beca.”

“Hello, Beca. Am I saying it right, now?”

“Yes, thank God. Now who are you and where am I?”

“It was nice to meet you Beca! Remember that you’re always welcome here at the Happy Star Inn. Come back anytime you need to rest.” Ignoring all of Beca’s questions, the other girl swiftly turns around and leaves the room. She’s starting to worry that this is in fact a mental ward right now and she’s just met a patient.

Giving herself a once-over, she’s happy to note that she’s sustained no injuries from her previous encounter with poorly-built furniture. She looks healthy, even suspiciously so. She could have sworn that she had a few scrapes on her arm from the awkward landing she had performed when sneaking out. Putting her confusion aside, she decides the next course of action should be to leave this place, find out where she is, and head home.

* * *

**Kindred Soul Medical Centre, Columbus, Ohio [2011]**

“Hey Sweetie, how’re you holding up?” She had spent the better part of an hour this morning being poked and prodded, so the usual.

“Hey Dad. I’m doing alright, just bored out of my mind here.” The TV in her room was playing a reality show rerun for the _third_ time this week. Did the broadcasters not have any other content to air?

“Lucky for you, I’ve got a special delivery!” Emily perks up in excitement at these words, only now just noticing a heavy-looking box sitting in the doorway. “They were holding a charity sale out in the foyer and I thought you’d be interested in some new reading material.” He frowned a little as if remembering something, “The old guy manning the counter actually looked a little _too_ happy to get rid of all of this.”

“Yes, yes! Thank you so much!” Leaping out of bed with as much energy as she could muster, she draws her dad in for a hug.

“Easy there, tiger.” Her dad laughed to himself, happy that his daughter was happy. “I wanted to have a quick word with Dr. Steinfeld, so why don’t you get started sorting through this lot and I’ll be right back?”

“Okay!”

The box full of books is truly an eclectic selection. There’s a little bit of everything inside such as the first Harry Potter book, a volume of Encyclopaedia Britannica, what possibly looks like an erotic novel, a self-help guide to quitting smoking, and a large leather-bound tome at the very bottom. It’s massive and she needs to remove all the other books in the box to be able to reach in and extract it out. Placing it on her bed and allowing the sunlight filtering through her window to illuminate the cover, she can almost make out the faint lettering at its center.

It’s a series of symbols that she can’t identify. Running her fingers gingerly back and forth over them, she can’t help but murmur, “The Book of Fate: A Tale of Two Souls”. As if breaking out of a trance, it finally registers that her vision is swirling. She’s not sure what’s happening but it doesn’t bode well and she tries to make her way towards the panic button installed in her room. Unable to discern her left from her right she only succeeds in making herself more and more dizzy. Her vision completely blacks out before she collapses.

All she can feel is the sensation of falling.

And falling.

And falling.

And falling.

* * *

  **Happy Star Inn, ?, ? [?]**

After leaving the room she had awoken in, Beca finds herself in a nearly deserted foyer. There’s nothing decorating the room aside from two small pot plants beside the door and a rickety wooden bench near the back wall. Behind the bench is an old man who appeared to be sleeping while standing up. She creeps towards the exit in an effort to not rouse the man and is mostly successful until her hand grasps the door handle.

“Your adventure may not begin until all party members are present in the lobby.”

Beca whirls around, letting go of the doorknob. The voice had come from directly behind her, but the man still looked as if he was asleep. Waiting a little longer in case anything else would happen, she furrows her eyebrows at all the strange events that had taken place since waking up. She cautiously made contact with the handle again.

“Your adventure may not begin until all party members are present in the lobby.”

“Okay, what the hell are you talking about?!” Her questions continued to go unanswered. Deciding to ignore the warning, Beca attempted to force the door open, only to find it locked.

“Your adventure may not begin until all party members are present in the lobby.”

Throwing her hands up in exasperation, she decides that she must have been kidnapped by a cult. A cult where everyone had a few screws loose. Remembering there was a window in the previous room, she decides that maybe an alternative exit is in order. Ascending the stairs from which she came, she hears a familiar voice as she reenters the room.

“Howdy, stranger! It’s good to see you’re finally awake. What’s your name?”

Beca is absolutely ready to deck someone until she discovers that the question is not intended for her. Instead, it’s directed towards a confused looking girl in a hospital gown. Sitting on the exact same bed Beca had found herself in earlier, the newcomer was huddled in the corner like a scared animal.

“I’m Emily… where am I?”

“Hello Emily… where am I? Am I saying it right?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This update is so late it's almost bemily week 2019. Whoops.

**Mitchell House, Seattle, Washington [2007]**

“It’s raining pretty hard out there, do you think Beca’s okay?”

“I’m sure she’s fine, she’s a tough cookie, that one.”

“I just wished she would at least take her phone with her when she does this.”

* * *

**Kindred Soul Medical Centre, Columbus, Ohio [2011]**

“We’ll start a new round of medication next week if Emily is feeling up to it. It might affect her mood temporarily but there have been some encouraging results coming out of-”

_“CODE: BLUE, ROOM 4G. CODE: BLUE, ROOM 4G.”_

Both father and doctor stiffened, Emily was the sole occupant of room 4G.

* * *

**Happy Star Inn (Upstairs), ?, ? [?]**

“What?” This Emily girl’s confusion was at least a sign that Beca wasn’t the only sane person in the building.

“Hello Emily… where am I? Am I saying it right?”

“Emily, my name’s just Emily.”

“Hello just Emily, am I saying it right?"

“She’ll probably keep saying weird shit until you just give her your name by itself.” Not wanting to stand around and partake in the lunacy being repeated, Beca makes a beeline for the frosted window. There’s no way to open it.

“Uhh, my name’s Emily.”

“Hello Emily, am I saying it right?”

“Yes?” Beca snorts a little at the uncertain tone.

“It was nice to meet you Emily! Remember that you’re always welcome here at the Happy Star Inn. Come back anytime you need to rest.” Once again, the blue-haired girl doesn’t wait for a response and promptly exits the room.

Emily eyes Beca warily, “Where am I?”

“That’s what I’d like to know.” growled Beca as she picked up the chair in the corner of the room.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m not gonna get any answers in this nuthouse. If they won’t let me leave through the front I’m gonna leave through the back.” She doesn't have time for chitchat, she's getting out of here before whatever cult this is decides it's time for some human sacrifices.

“Wait!” Emily isn’t quick enough to stop Beca from throwing the chair with all her strength. She doesn’t need to since the chair simply passes straight through the glass window and reappears back in the corner it came from.

“What the fuck?”

* * *

**Police Station Parking Lot, Chapel Hill, North Carolina [2012]**

“I get a call in the middle of the night telling me my only daughter got arrested for destruction of property! What on Earth were you thinking Beca?!”

“It broke.”

“What?”

“The window, it broke when the trophy went through it.”

“The window bro-. Beca if a trophy goes through a window it’s obviously going to break, what else were you expecting?”

Jesse silently eyed the girl slumped in the backseat. Beca was always someone that was hard to read, something that had never been more evident than right now.

* * *

**Happy Star Inn (Upstairs), ?, ? [?]**

“Did that chair just…” Emily stared in disbelief at the shorter girl in the room.

“Yeah…”

Whatever medication the doctors were having her on right now must have thrown her off the deep end. At least she wasn’t hurting much. Wait, she wasn’t hurting at all. Emily’s eyes widened as she looked down at herself.

Gingerly poking all the areas that were usually sore, none of them cried out in pain. It’s then that she realises that her arms are completely devoid of any marks. The needle-marks from her weekly tests are gone, as are the familiar callouses on her fingers from all those late nights practicing guitar.

Her whole body feels different. Running over to the mirror in the corner, she vaguely recognises her reflection. It’s her, but not the her she remembers. Her once dull hair now had a bright sheen to it. Her figure had a fullness that hadn’t been present since before the diagnosis. Bringing her hands up to her face, she softly touched her round cheeks. She doesn’t realise she’s crying until she feels a wetness on her fingertips.

Quickly wiping away the tears, Emily turns around just in time to see a chair once again being thrown through a solid window before reappearing in the corner. It’s just as stunning as it is the first time. She thinks that maybe she’s dreaming. You can do whatever you want in a dream right?

Walking over to the corner Emily picks up the very same chair and lifts it up. Meeting eyes with the other girl she grins, “Third time’s a charm?” and throws it more violently than she’s ever thrown anything in her life. There’s much force but very little accuracy and the chair misses the window completely, instead phasing right through the wall surrounding it and reappearing in the corner. Spooky.

“Am I dead? Is this hell?” Emily thinks the situation they’re in isn’t exactly sinister enough to be considered eternal damnation, but something is definitely very weird about it. “Whatever, front door it is then.”

The girl walks passed before stopping and turning around. They stare at each other for a few seconds until Emily registers that her arm is wrapped around the other girl’s bicep. “I’m Emily.”

Steel-blue guarded eyes regard her with confusion. “I know?”

“What’s your name?”

“Oh, uhh, Beca.”

Dream Emily is just as awkward as awake Emily apparently because she doesn't know what to say after that. Instead, she silently follows Beca downstairs to an almost empty foyer. Behind a wooden bench stands an old man who grins at the two girls. There’s something _off_ about the way he smiles. It’s not evil per se, but there’s an artificial air to it. His beady eyes follow the girls as they make their way towards the large door at the end of the room.

As Beca’s left hand makes contact with the door handle, a deep voice from behind calls out, “Fortune favours the bold, but the destined are a sight to behold.” They both turn around, only to discover that the old man had disappeared. Eyeing each other nervously, Beca swallows hard as she turns the handle, surprised to find little resistance.

As the door opens with a long drawn out creak, both girls’ jaws drop at what greets them on the other side. It’s something straight out of a fantasy film. Armoured knights riding passed on unicorns. Anthropomorphic animals bartering over market stalls. A man dressed like a magician on a pedestal was juggling fireballs. There were even two suns in the sky.

“Beca, I've a feeling we're not in Columbus anymore.” Whispered Emily.

“Yeah.” Beca’s head then whipped towards the taller girl. “Wait, did you just say Columbus?”


	3. Chapter 3

**Terry’s Tacos, Seattle, Washington [2007]**

“Oi Reggie, call 911. The place across the road is lighting up like the 4th of July and it looks pretty nasty.”

“How do you even keep a fire going in this weather?”

“Beats me. Could be all that old, antique-y crap they have lying around.”

* * *

**Bean There – Drank That, Columbus, Ohio [2011]**

The hand inside her jacket pocket comes up empty – a sign she had left her phone in the car glove-box.

3 calls go unanswered.

“ORDER FOR KATHERINE!”

* * *

**Outside the Happy Star Inn, ?, ? [?]**

“Columbus, Ohio. Born and raised.” Really, considering what’s going on in front of them, the fact that she’s from Ohio should be the last thing Beca’s surprised about.

“I guess we’re not in Seattle either.”

“Huh.” All she knows about the place is what she’s seen from Sleepless in Seattle, “It doesn’t look wet enough here for that.” The two suns in the sky are probably a better indicator but Beca seems too overwhelmed for her to point that out. “Come on, let’s explore!”

Without waiting for a response, she grabs hold of Beca’s hand and drags her along to the nearest stalls. The sights, smells and sounds of the market were all fighting for her attention. Flitting between vendor to vendor, she feels a sharp tug on her hand when they arrive at the animal merchant.

“Dude, stick your arm in that cage and you’re going to lose it.”

“But it's a puppy!” A small whine came from the canine as if to profess its innocence.

“A puppy with a _blade_ coming out of its head.” Emily pouted but made no further attempts at reaching in.

The alluring smell of marinated meat brought them to a food stall tucked away in the corner.

“Would you girls like a sample?” A blue rat wearing a comically tall chef hat stood on a stool behind a grill of steaks, pointing towards some bowls of diced meat on the side. It reminds Emily a little of Ratatouille.

“Sure!” picking up two bowls and handing one to Beca, she stuffs a piece into her mouth and moans. It’s the best thing she’s eaten in a long time, no offense to chef Alberto from the hospital. “Ifgoof!” she encourages Beca as she shovels the rest of the bowl’s contents into her mouth.

Beca looks at Emily hesitantly as she puts a slice into her mouth.

Sporting a huge grin, the rat proudly proclaimed, “Best spider meat in all of Piwismepf!”

She spits it out directly onto Emily’s face.

* * *

**Junk-Hardon House, Columbus, Ohio [2009]**

“Here comes the aeroplane!” Emily makes a whooshing noise as she lands the spoon into Tyler’s mouth.

They’re not blood related but her mother says Bellas are sisters forever so he might as well be her cousin. She can’t wait to go to college and make the same lifelong bonds of friendship. The girls at school have been making fun of her lately for spacing out. She doesn’t know why, but she’s just having the hardest time concentrating.

The next plane doesn’t make as graceful of a landing. A mid-air collision with an out of control flying baby hand results in soup all over her face.

“Hey there mister, food is for eating, not wearing!”

* * *

**Town Square, ?, Piwismepf [?]**

Beca alternates between trying to clean her tongue and apologizing to Emily. Emily alternates between cleaning her face and apologizing to the stall owner. He doesn’t appear at all phased by Beca’s reaction and simply gestures at the steaks, “3 duqqis for one or 5 duqqis for two!”

Even if they had the currency, they were definitely not buying two. The sudden horrifying realisation that neither of them had any money on them is cut short by a trumpet-blowing man on horseback. Everyone in the square quietened down as he approached.

“BREACH THROUGH THE WEST WALL! BREACH THROUGH THE WEST WALL!”

Pandemonium broke loose.

Beca has no idea how to determine cardinal directions but when all the townspeople were running one way and all the armoured knights were running the other, it didn’t take a genius to guess which way was safer.

Pulling Emily along in the direction of the crowd, she spies a group of children running inside a cathedral. Deciding that was probably as good of a place as any, she follows them in. Catching sight of the grandiose interior, she stops short so suddenly that Emily crashes into her.

“Oh Fudge! Sorry Beca.”

The place is huge. Expensive looking oil paintings lined the walls, and in front of them were hyper realistic golden statues of knights, archers, priests and possibly royalty.

“Close the door! Close the door!” hisses a child hiding behind one of the wooden pews towards the front. The girls hurry inside and shut the entrance behind them.

The younger children are scattered in groups of twos and threes in amongst the pews. Some of the older kids are sitting along the walls, while others are lighting candles in front of the statues. An elderly woman is kneeling in front of the altar, flanked either side by two younger ladies. All three are deep in prayer. Beca feels extremely out of place, something intensified many-fold by her atheist upbringing.

An explosion sounds somewhere in the distance and a tiny purple-haired girl begins to cry. A blond cat-eared boy, who looked to be about the same age, comes running down the aisle towards her.

“Hey, don’t cry! My Papa’s out there and he’s going to scare those meanies all the way home!”

A few drawn out sniffles can be heard, “Are- are you sure?”

“Yeah! He’s the strongest dad ever! He can cut one of those biiiiiig trees with a single whack!” Beca hopes to have even a sliver of that young boy’s optimism. Turning to her left she’s alarmed to find a distinct lack of Emily. A quick survey of the room finds her standing in front of one of the two largest statues at the back of the room.

Walking over to investigate, Beca notices that this one is slightly different to the other ones near the entrance. There’s a slight golden sheen that seems to radiate light as oppose to reflect it. The statue depicts a young girl dressed in loose-fitting robes. She’s holding in both hands a staff taller than the length of her body. Both eyes are closed and her head is tilted slightly upwards. Flowing hair reaches all the way to the length of the floor.

“How would she not trip on her own hair?” In retrospect that’s most likely a disrespectful thing to say about someone who was obviously held in high regard. Emily doesn’t react to Beca’s absent-minded statement. “Emily?” The other girl's eyes are slightly glazed over as she stares at the statue. “Emily??”

“ _Hsedi._ ”

“What?” Beca has no idea what Emily’s saying but if the tone is anything to go by it sounds important.

“Huh?” The taller girl turns around in confusion

“The hell-, I mean, the heck is a huh-, huh-seedy.” Beca furrows her eyebrows at the weird word. It doesn’t sound the same coming out of her mouth.

“A huh-what?”

“I don’t know, you just said it.”

“But I didn’t say anything?”

“You clearly did!”

Their mutual frustration is interrupted by the shattering of glass behind them.

“Oh stars!” “SWEET BABY JESUS!”

It’s an irreverent choice of words given their current location, but Beca thinks she should be forgiven considering there’s a _GIANT SPIDER_ the size of a _CAR_ standing in the same spot she had been a minute prior. A pterodactyl-esque screech fills the air as it turns towards the children Beca had been watching earlier.

“I liked the spiders better when they were small enough to fit in my mouth.” She can’t help but agree with Emily’s assessment.


	4. Chapter 4

**Central District Fire Station, Seattle, Washington [2007]**

“Hey Marty, what’s got you all spooked? The Missus back in town?”

“Nah, she and the kids are down in Portland. I’ve just had a bad feeling all night. I gotta stop staying up so late, I guess.”

“Well, 10 more minutes and you can head straight home to bed.”

* * *

 

**Room 4G, Kindred Soul Medical Centre** **, Columbus, Ohio [2011]**

“Status report!” Dr Steinfeld demands as soon as she enters the room.  

A cacophony of responses in amongst the blare of alarms brings little clarity so she turns her attention towards the monitors. _That can’t be right._ None of the readings make any sense whatsoever. When taken individually she would have declared an equipment malfunction, taken together though…

* * *

 

**Cathedral, ?, Piwismepf [?]**

Cool.

Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Cool. Just a giant spider, chilling across the room. Totally normal. Beca was not panicking. Nope. Extremely relaxed. Nothing to worry about.

“EEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!” The deafening screech echoes throughout the entire building. If she doesn’t move, it won’t see her, right?

A clattering sound from behind scares her half to death. Whirling around, it’s obvious that it came from a large sword that was gleaming at her from the floor.

_Qsuvidv…_

She’s not sure what possesses her to pick the suspicious object up, but it’s surprisingly light and warm to touch.

More screaming brings her attention back towards the danger at hand. A single swipe from one of its hairy forelegs sends the cat-eared boy halfway across the room in their direction. Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Emily spring into action and check if he’s okay. A chill crawls down her spine as the spider inches closer to the little girl crying on the floor. The sword in her hand heats up.

_Qsuvidv…_ _oppudipv…_

Beca isn’t stupid enough to run towards a giant, most likely man-eating, spider but she also isn’t heartless enough to leave a child there to die. The weapon in her grasp isn’t scalding her but it feels hot enough that it should be. She flings the thing towards the monster, vaguely hoping that maybe it’ll burn to death or something. Nothing that dramatic happens but it does slice 2 legs completely off.

And go straight through the floor.

And reappear back in her hand.

Blinking twice in case she’s seeing things, Beca thinks she can work with this. She doesn’t have time to register that the blade has gone ice cold before she hurls it one more time in precisely the same fashion. This time the weapon only covers half the distance between them before teleporting back to her.

Of course it wouldn’t be that easy.

The beast turns around and shrieks angrily at Beca. Fair call, she did just violently remove some of its limbs. It makes a lunge at her which causes her to jerk back so quickly that she trips over her own feet. Luckily for her, this means that she’s _just_ low enough to avoid a collision. Unluckily for the spider, this means the sword is at the perfect height to slice it cleanly in two.

Both halves of the monster slam into the sides of the cathedral before disappearing in an eruption of bright lights. A smaller burst simultaneously goes off where the two dismembered legs had originally landed.

“Jisu!” Turning to see identical shocked expressions on all three of the previously praying women, Beca wonders if she’s committed some sort of forbidden act that’s going to result in a witch-burning. She’s honestly beyond the point of caring though. Her eyes hurt and she’s resisting the extremely strong urge to vomit all over the floor.

“Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive, stayin' alive. Ah, ha, ha, ha, stayin' alive.” Beca nearly asks what’s going on but one look shows that Emily is mumbling to herself as she performs CPR on the injured boy. She might not be religious, but that doesn’t stop her from sending a quiet prayer to whatever deities existed in this world.

* * *

 

**Auditorium 3, Barden University, Atlanta, Georgia [2012]**

“No, Amy! Slow down! You’re pushing much too quickly!” came Aubrey’s exasperated tone as she repeated herself for the third time in as many minutes.

The other Bellas watched on from the side-lines. Their blonde co-captain had decided that in order to fix their inability accurately count beats, they had to learn how to correctly perform CPR. Fat Amy had enthusiastically volunteered herself to be first but seemed more interested in crushing the doll to death than actually doing as instructed.

Aubrey’s eyebrows twitch ever so slightly when everyone else aside from Beca is equally as unsuccessful. The only remotely positive result so far is the fact that the ordinarily combative alt-girl was being uncharacteristically cooperative.

“Hey, how do you get it right like that every time?” whispers Chloe as they watch Stacie getting told off for making out with the mannequin.

“You know that song ‘Stayin’ Alive’? It’s got the exact same beat.”

* * *

 

**Cathedral, ?, Piwismepf [?]**

Emily’s entire body releases a sigh of relief when the boy finally gasps for air. She doesn’t know what she would have done if that hadn’t worked.

The entrance bursts open as two heavily armoured knights rushed inside with their weapons drawn. They survey the room thrice before relaxing their stances. She hears a slightly muffled “ALL CLEAR!” being directed outdoors.

An old woman runs as fast as she can towards one of the knights. Emily can’t hear what’s being said but there’s a lot of gesticulating towards Beca and herself. It occurs to her that she’s been wearing her hospital gown this entire time and it looks extremely out of place. Beca’s outfit was only marginally better in this context. Speaking of Beca, the shorter girl was staring at her unblinkingly.

“Is there something on my face?”

“Dude, what was that?”

“What was what?”

“You…” Beca waved her free hand at Emily before pointing at the cat-boy on the floor, “and then he…”

“CPR? I know it’s a bit weird but the only way I can remember how to do it is if I sing to myself at the same time.”

“No, not that. You like, _glowed_.” Beca whispers the last word as if it was some forbidden invocation.

“What?”

“Right before he started breathing again, you just. You know…” the spirit fingers motion doesn’t help explain the situation at all.

They’re interrupted by the sounds of heavy footsteps. A large man wearing a ripped tunic with blood smeared across his blonde beard runs towards them. His twitching feline ears and laser-like focus on the injured boy suggested he might be the father. Tears escape his eyes as he picks up the child.  

“Thank you, thank you, thank you! If there’s anything I can do to repay you, I swear upon Hsedi herself I will do everything in my power to fulfil it.”

“Who is -”

Emily doesn’t get to finish her question before a trumpet blares repeatedly in the distance. The man offers them both an apologetic bow before leaving just as quickly as he had arrived. A groan of frustration passes Beca’s lips as she starts to bang her head against the granite floor.

“What does it take to get a proper explanation around here?”


End file.
